walks toward the barren doorway for answers.He finds voices hidden in the cavern of a shell.The unfinished child sleeps restless nights withno dreams, he fits in the tip of a dirty pinky fingernail. A long train carries the unfinished child one lifeto another riding cattails in wind. He resists openingdoors in daytime. It was a nightshade […]
Category: Poetry
Glass Enclosure – Ryan Quinn Flanagan
There was a glass enclosure inside the glass enclosureto keep everything in –the glass most of all, being so breakable and dangerousto elastic blood-flush skin;dermis in the sciences, like calling a secretaryan administrative assistanteverything made more complicated than it had to beso that simple understanding could not be hadand when questions arose they were […]
I woke – Matthew J Hall
from a bleak sleepmy eyes were soreand streamingin my dream I saw godhe was a sad typedeprived of sleephe was sittingin a chairin a small roomI spoke to himI said,hellohe openedhis eyesbut he couldn’tseehe said,I don’t knowwhat to doI said,nobody doeshe was stilllikeold stonehe didn’t tell mebut I could tellhe’d forgotten howto movehe said,I’m so […]
Style Section – Jonathan May
the Four Seasons in the forest city has no menu;guests forage from what the chef tosses out—chanterelles, licorice, octopus, crème anglaiseeven the giant bird people drop an elk by(on occasion) and society women in Commedes Garçon ravage it with their naked mouthssusurrus of leaves and wings please auralpalates—ambiance fit for that important lunch;remember to […]
The Lost Species of America – Jon Bennett
“3 species a minute, now 4,do I have 5? 7! 7 speciesa minute!!!”I used to careme and everyone I knowcared a lotBut we live in a worldmarked by dearth, drynessand predationso maybe the caringis going extinct as well. Jon Bennett writes and plays music in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. You can find more of […]
Wordlessness – Robert Alan Rife
Sometimes he gets stuck in the dictionary so long that his brain becomes alphabet soup. He wears his skin tattooed with another’s thoughts. And he waits. No, he frets – and sour apprehensions swim atop a slowly scumming pond of wilted words, reeking of lost sleep.And, if reflections in the coffee shop window are meant […]
TONIGHT I TELL MY TROUBLES TO THE DEAD COSSACK IN THE ICE BOX – Mark S Borczon
(For my father)I have slept wintersIn gulag cold, in beds too farFrom the warmth of the stoveAnd I have shared blankets withA woman so bedbug crazyOn so many pain killers shePissed the bed in her sleepAnd her urine was ice coldI have watched my daughters’ tearsFreeze on their cheeksLike the notes on the neckOf […]
How to Become a Sword Swallower – Duane Vorhees
1) First, you must tie a string to a piece of potato. (You’re tied to superego’s gordian strictures — Crucifix, Valentine, Flag. These knots are ununtied, intricate, tight.) 2) Swallow the spud to train the throat. (You’ve learned to swallow the many social lies: That Faith supercedes reason, that True Love lives forever, that […]
Yage and Mezcalito Euphoria – Catfish McDaris
Astride a flying llamaseeking yage children with no bonesjunkie gringos shooting mezcalito wormsfrom the heads of beautiful senoritasThe Andes comb the skyfor clouds and thunderpain dances on the horizonwith Aztec dragons and jade jaguarsSaturn and Jupiter make love to the sunFrequent coincidence is not happenstancea force beyond comprehension drivesforgotten rain ghost faces and moon […]
Unlucky For Some: 13 Micro-Poems – Ricky Garni
GLASS HALF FULL If you are the Invisible Man, you don’t have to say I Love You all the time. • BIKINI ISLANDS Even if you don’t love them, you have to admit atomic bombs are really very beautiful for about 9 seconds • LONG DISTANCE I love you so much, I ate the […]